Fort Solis - Story Explained

[@FatBoiSaint]

"Jack was about to go vacation the following day" I was like "oh no..."

[@jenniferjohnson-jb7ki]

I just want to point out how good Wyatt's voice acting is. Whenever his video logs were playing, he came off so authentic as someone who is an actual medical professional. The "umms" and pauses like he's just coming up with that information while also reading from notes was spot on.

[@catherinemorrison1909]

Troy Baker ftw

[@teresa6896]

I came to say this. His voice acting was excellent 👌

[@zenovia1004]

well Who else Our bois Troy baker the one that VA wyatt

[@wyldweaverandwyrm]

I’m glad other people noticed this, it was so good, incredibly organic, props to the voice actor. Definitely shows how good they can be and hopefully encourages companies to stop hiring big name screen actors for games!

[@alextherussian9933]

Props? He needs no props, he is a legend. Can't have a better voice actor in your game.

[@bloodbrother1251]

I love the idea that earth is running out of air so they had a big brain idea of terraforming a place that doesn't have breathable air to begin with instead of fixing the place they're already at

[@coreytran7415]

maybe all that carbon capturing injtiatives put all the oxygen into the ground leaving the air with depleted levels of oxygen.

[@skepticalmagos_101]

​@@coreytran7415they don't work that way.

[@FearMyLadyBits]

makes about a much sense as Wyatt saying "can you imagine if this (compound) gets back to earth?!" then sends a mysterious package to his wife on earth.

[@ExarchGaming]

it's a batshit insane idea, the only way this could be a thing is the mass death of flora and things like cyanobacteria, as it recycles CO2, they're already working on synthetic leaves that can take like 12 times as much CO2 to O2 which will be vital on an offworld colony.

[@thesumofmyfear]

I figured the package was the plant his daughter wanted. While en-route he learned about the soil being poisonous, so he warns her not to open it and to take it to his friend instead. But also I think the plant was on his desk? Or was that another one? @@FearMyLadyBits

[@No_Ghosts]

Pro Tip: If you send your family a package that you realize contains a humanity ending virus inside tell them, "Don't open that package there's a humanity ending virus inside. I sent you a plant I thought would be cute but I've realized after sending that it has a humanity ending virus. I'm not joking." If you just tell them "don't open it" they might become curious, and, not realizing the stakes, open it anyway

[@shawnaw2]

Possibility of "screening" by the facility sending your package. They might remove the message entirely or mask it by changing it. But the again the original "don't open it send it to tom" doesn't exactly help either. So yeap logical fallacy here by the game.

[@zenovia1004]

and don't forget that The Root of this problem is Helen.She is sooo ignorant For what happen her crew, that desperate to save earth by inderectly killed it's population.

[@clad95150]

This is what ruin the story for me. The bad guy keeps saying : "you don't understand", "if you saw what I saw you'd be with me" and things like that. But he NEVER EVER says what happened. "Trust me, I have the proof that show I'm right, but instead of showing it to you, I'll just fight you because the writer doesn't know how to write a good story".

[@calencor]

my family would literally disregard the do not open and open it anyway... and im sure they take a sniff too

[@ItsChuckShirley]

Ah yeah just like Pandora's box

[@Tark-qs4mu]

Something, either the compound or the soil, maybe a combination of the two, is causing compulsive behavior in people. They became...more themselves. Helen became obsessed with finding the answers she was looking for, the teams became more determined to meet Helen's demands for more material, Wyatt became more obsessed with saving lives...even to the point of taking them to do so. That's what I was getting from the story, at least.

[@Mazra42]

Helen mentions at 18:01 that the compound accelerates and creates compulsion, and the video logs indicate accelerating compulsive behavior among the exposed. The compound basically gives you accelerating Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), causing you to become obsessed with a task, whether it's digging for soil at the site, working on the compound, keeping up with the delivery demands, or preventing an infection from spreading. The compulsive behavior accelerates until the exposed succumbs to dehydration and fatigue or other elements, as seen with the workers who got radiation poisoning and dehydration from working too much at the dig site. The compulsive behavior also leads to a lot of conflicts as people constantly bump heads with other people who do not share their compulsion, as seen in the numerous video logs. Wyatt became obsessed with preventing the spread of the infection, so he murdered everyone. It didn't turn him into a rage zombie, psycho, or anything like that. He was just completely absorbed by his compulsion.

[@dougr8646]

O. Wish that had been made more clear

[@user78405]

@@Mazra42 well, i guess living on mars is call home sickness...people are desperate go home , they all feel same way of not want to be there , its not natural to them but company they work with, are not sending anyone home until they get results , cause pressure from back earth, is not lot of time left for them...guess they all didn't read fine print when sign up the contract....its why they are on last frontier to save lives ...it didn't say they gonna be living heroes after all set in done ....cause there are first of humans make foot on baron cold planet , no one else there is

[@aeureus]

That's actually a brilliant theory.

[@ngothanhhoa441]

And Jessica becomes more determined to save male character after found out about the compound

[@madmike0064]

With how long some other games are, it feels like the entirety of Fort Solis would be another games opening act.

[@wolfidessdragondol]

Fr, its such a open ended type of gamd, it makes me wonder if we'll ever get more of the story

[@foxmind2490]

The acting for this game is incredible!

[@Space_Ache]

The acting and graphics in this game are 10/10. The story has a great premise. The issue is they had a strong start then went nowhere.

[@foxmind2490]

@@Space_Ache It does leave A LOT to the imagination. Based on the video, I like to think that there is alien life, and that compound 26 is actually fossilized droppings from the alien. Since the plants responded to it so well, it’s basically alien fertilizer not fit for human consumption.

[@Space_Ache]

@foxmind2490 You make great points. I heard they made this game in two years. Had they added another year or two this game could have been (really should have been) a great leap forward for narrative driven games.

[@foxmind2490]

@@Space_Ache It definitely could use more time in the oven, but if this is what they can make after two years I would still write them a check for their next game.

[@Space_Ache]

@foxmind2490 agreed. It is a double-sided compliment, I suppose. Two years to make a game that looks, sounds and has a better story than 90% of AAA games on the market is no small feat. Never heard of the dev before either.

[@viktorverzon5702]

Voice acting and facial capture are next level in this game. Probably the best I've seen in a long time.

[@wolfyboy97]

I just wanted to mention that Helen's voice log about wondering if they should is an almost exact quote from Jurassic Park! Ian Malcom: "Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should."

[@nikurisa]

I know the popular theory is that something is wrong with Compound 26, but with all the information available to us, it seems another possibility is likely: Stress, panic and radiation sickness. We are able to confirm through multiple entries that digging into the soil generated exposure and/or the long hours to do their work *and* get Helen her samples caused the team to get more exposure to radiation and thus become sick. Same for Salim's team, since they're trying to fix the power systems. Now factor in 'cabin fever' where people have had a hard cycle as it is, with storm season coming, and being cooped up and wanting something different. On top of this you have factors like Helen's desperation for the goal, Wyatt's inability to message or see his family and Nick being concerned for the toll being taken by his team. Now, we have a compound that is not well understood with the information we have, and all we have to go on for negative is something about a cost from the Hoskin audio log. This is too vague in my opinion; is it causing sickness? Is the process to get what they need going to require basically killing people with radiation sickness to get the amounts needed? We don't know. What we do know is everyone began fighting, especially once Wyatt came barrelling in, with an audio log [can't remember from whom] that talks about how everyone knows Wyatt can be a bit arrogant. So you have a home planet that is dying, the difficulties of living on an alien world that can't really support life, cabin fever and work stress, overwork due to Helen's demands, right or wrong the heavy-handed pushing from Wyatt and of course the endgame of Terra's involvement with suspending Wyatt. Once word got out, due to Wyatt, of the compound possibly being to blame, people's imaginations can run wild, especially in a stressful/panic scenario. To me, there is a possibility of something being wrong with the compound, but its left vague enough with no smoking gun to present to me the image of an overworked crew with the ever present Sword of Damocles above their heads of a dying Earth and personality conflicts/flaws that only required the spark of radiation sickness, a new Compound agent to grow plants and Terra's greed/desperation that kicked off a chain of self-destructive events. Whatever ending they have in mind as being 'real', I feel they either screwed up in not giving us enough to definitively at least go "this was the likely cause" or they wanted us to see what we see with the limited puzzle pieces given. Since personally, the claws and animal attack angle I think was a red herring to muddy the pot, as it were and mess with player expectations at that stage of the game.

[@bananatiergod]

I was worried we're gonna have a typical walking simulator but the story turns out pretty solid, and I like they added a bit of action to it as well. I know we probably won't get a sequel but hopefully they'll expand the story in some places, maybe with Wyatt's wife if she's still alive.

[@GamingHarryYT]

Or maybe whoever Tom was. Wyatt said he’d know what to do with the package.

[@oblivionlord1242]

The story's pacing in the 2nd half was terrible... It never elaborates

[@bananatiergod]

@@oblivionlord1242 I feel like it works. The story doesn't spoon-feed us with answers and let's us come up with our own conclusions on what made the soil dangerous and if it was the reason the staff began to turn aggressive towards each other. Explaining too much would have ruined it IMO.

[@KrakenZzz123]

@@oblivionlord1242i like it being ambiguous. Leaves it open for the individual to speculate.

[@Lucifronz]

I was expecting a cheap Dead Space knockoff. I am mildly more impressed by this. I wouldn't say it's phenomenal, but it's intriguing.

[@Phantassm]

Excellent buildup and then no payoff at the end.

[@Ms_StoryDragon]

This game ended abruptly, but I can see the plot lines that could possibly lead to a part two. Several people mentioned hearing things outside the station during the storms and a hand mark that didn’t look human. It’s possible the soil samples have mutagenic properties. The guy who was taken to the central hub-that could lead to another outbreak. Chris opening the present with the Mars grown plant in it could lead to an outbreak on earth. They could’ve introduced a bacteria that was dormant on Mars, but could proliferate in the environment on Earth. I’m just speculating.

[@slowstone8509]

One of the video clips of the outside looked like a Resident Evil style big mutated Human or something. I wouldn't be surprised if the next game has weapons and a cadence like Resident Evil. It would make Solis the ultimate origin game that people can go back and play to find story clues, especially if every little detail in the office adds up into important timeline hints

[@faithfulfilo7994]

Bloodied hand mark? that couldve just been the arm that Wyatt took off. Unless you meant something else.

[@NGMonocrom]

Seriously, what is up with these games that don't really have an ending? They just end. Rather obvious that Compound 26 has some sort of unforeseen side-effect on human-beings accidentally exposed to it.... Hand shaking as the first sign. Sign of what? Mental instability? Eventually the compound makes people violently psychotic? Seems like a fascinating half-finished game.

[@dranzerjetli5126]

The Callisto protocol first now this

[@visassess8607]

Because it's so "artsy" lmao

[@Subject_Keter]

It hard to start but harder to end.. but to cut out the end is easy.

[@No_Ghosts]

I think they wanted to make it ambiguous so you're not sure whether Wyatt is crazy or a hero saving humanity ... but I agree, bad move, it doesn't really raise interesting questions, it just makes you wonder whether you should care about this story at all the other big problem of this game is it feels like Wyatt's story, while the two "protagonists" are just observers who get caught up in it. it'd be a cool and complete story from Wyatt's perspective --- you miss your family, you're just trying to get by, bad working conditions, then you notice people are getting sick --- probably nothing, you tell yourself, but the more you investigate, the more sure you become --- you raise the issue to your superiors but they view you as a roadblock --- you get caught up in a bureaucratic nightmare where this corporation is risking all of humanity for their petty reasons --- you get a few people on your side, and you try to arrest those against you --- stuff quickly gets out of hand, it turns into a blood bath --- you make the tough choice, you're not gonna see your family again, but you know what needs to be done --- at the end of it all you're victorious, the last one standing, you're mortally wounded but you know you're the last loose end, you've paid a terrible cost, but you have saved humanity, roll credits

[@Eatmyshorts29]

Honestly, if this were the first portion of the game and it was just a long extended opening, that would have been a great subversion. Keep the same protagonist or switch it up and then have something big happen to show the virus’s effects. Could be alien or it could be something happens with the infected. Suddenly, you are trapped and even though there are so few threats, it’s enough for the player because even one person is dangerous.

[@korrynp.5000]

I like the idea that there is truly nothing wrong with the compound but instead, just badly timed accidents and this is all occurring because of the lack of communication and secrecy happening. The story could be about the way that the human imagination will make things up when forced into isolation. Suddenly random scratches become claw marks, unlabeled boxes become secret material and long hours means that something sinister is occurring. Wyatt is just an example of what isolation can cause even in the most level-headed of us. Even the illness that he uses could just be a strain of a bad pneumonia or viral disease and the hand tremors are a normal result of fear. The hand tremors are not a "sign" but because of a collective delusion?

[@giacomoromano8842]

Honestly, this sounds as much as an issue with the compound as it is an issue with people stressed out of their mind in a unstable working environment. Everyone seem to have their reasoning, but egoism, greediness and external factors boiled a difficult situation beyond the salvageable. It feels very... human, honestly, and unsettling for being quite "relatable" about the dangers of toxic working conditions.

[@DanielVerberne]

I COMPLETELY agree. The story seemed to be telling us of the dire stressors that can impact human minds under strain and robbed of familial ties and interaction. As many have pointed out, we saw no clear evidence of the research being harmful that couldn't be attributed to something more mundane. Fears of the compound causing problems back on Earth and assertions about activity occurring at night are interesting but ultimately lack the clarity needed for any of us to make assertions. Ultimately an interesting game but for my money it felt too unclear. There are those who revel in ambiguity. I like science and sci-fi, I value precision and clarity; my mind can imagine enough to give such works wonder about awe without narrative anbiguity being in any way necessary.

[@Ariaelyne]

@@DanielVerberne I think the ambiguity is supposed to be the point in this case, since the game is ultimately about surviving Wyatt. Whether they were actually messing with something dangerous or everyone was conspiracy bubbling into catastrophe or some combination thereof it was Wyatt who was the threat of the game rather then compound 26.

[@kennyburkamp4054]

Well from what I heard somewhere compound 26 makes not only increase growth but also increased compulsion which can cause a lot of problems that explains Wyeth actions and possibly the botanist obsession with the work along with the mining team extra hours also a lot of the crew in specially the ones that go out alot because we know the bee's that were unintentionally contaminated by compound 19 got into a number of places and stung people now we know that the bee's getting out was a common occurrence and them getting exposed to compound 19 was a unintentional so they could have gotten into the other later compounds to

[@WolfieQueen29]

I just watched Fooster play this. Fun fact: Jack is voiced by Roger Clark, aka Arthur Morgan.

[@ipostfunnymemesforfunandgi4738]

Wait fr the guy who voices jack in this game is the same voice Actor who voiced Arthur Morgan wow that should be a fun fact

[@WolfieQueen29]

@@ipostfunnymemesforfunandgi4738 Fixed it 😅

[@middleagedmutantninjaturtle18]

Literally everyone knows that. They announced the damn game with him and troy baker

[@WolfieQueen29]

@middleagedmutantninjaturtl7732 Literally no need to be rude about it. Reading most of these comments, alot of people didn't even know about this game's existence. Chill out, dude.

[@TheChronozoan]

​@WolfieQueen29 I appreciate your kindness. That person you're tagging seems like a bit of a titmouse lol

[@vexmyth0clast]

You never fail to upload videos on games that intrigue me but that I’m too busy to actually play. Thanks again for another great video. Your channel is criminally underrated.

[@AmilaSunshine]

The facial animations and the characrers' motions are insane!

[@GothPaoki]

Story felt a bit of a letdown for me. The big thing for me it's that it's centered around a super dangerous infectious factor but we barely see anything about it other than hearing about it from the logs. The game really fails to establish how dangerous this is and story falls apart because of it because not seeing that also means we can't really understand Wyatts actions. At this point story might as well have been about a wacko who started killing people because he's mad which is essentially that since he killed everyone else , virus didn't do anything. All we see about the virus is the slight hand tremor nothing to shock us. It's like walking dead but we never actually see the zombies to understand the severity of the situation. Not to mention there's a lot if things left out. Like the marks at the door which in the logs are potentially attributed to alien lifeforms but are never addressed again or how the protagonist girl gets infected to begin with.

[@zillagrilla315]

Honestly, I quite like that about the story. In most video games where there is a deadly virus it always escapes Zone 0 or at least takes over it. But here the Doctor delt with the infection before it became viral.

[@bananatiergod]

I feel like the story tries to take the Nothing is Scarier route, where they give us enough breadcrumbs to figure out what and how the crew began to lose their minds without revealing too much. Any more than what we were given and it would have ruined the mystery of it, at least in my opinion.

[@GameFuMaster]

@@zillagrilla315 then it becomes a "insert anything here" and becomes pointless. It could have been a supernatural demon. Could have been a robot gone wrong. Could have been a dangerous animal. If it's just an "insert whatever you want", I may as well just have dreamed about it instead.

[@GothPaoki]

@@bananatiergod but we are never actually given any indication that they're losing their minds just that they're sick. If what you suggest is that the compound makes them lose their mind that is. Unless you refer to the obvious loss of morale in the logs we witness but we're given many reasons why the people working there are in bad psychologically shape that have nothing to do with the compound. But in order to fully grasp Wyatts moral dilemma and the stakes we need to see the reasoning that justifies his actions and we never see that, we don't see that the situation is really so cataclysmic that he absolutely has to kill everybody and that's where it loses it's cohesion. And then there's ofc other parts of the story that are never adressed like the marks in the doors that given what we see in the visual and written logs are actually a bigger problem for the workers there that the infection. The story as it is seen looks like it's much more possible that the only one who lost his mind is actually Wyatt and went on a killing spring . Were also given much more evidence to deduce that since we got plenty of logs with his family and how much he misses them, it's clear from the get go that contrary to the other workers who suffer loss of morale he's sinked even deeper psychologically and that's even before we get to see his later logs about compound 26. So what more realistically happened is that a guy who was mentally pressured got pushed even further a) by the cancellation of his leave pass which would allow him to see his family ,we do see him being very bitter about that company decision B) the professional disagreement with the scientist about the compound ( which we know it's dangerous but as i said we don't know how much in order to get a justification for his actions which leads to his demotion and also professional ruin.

[@GothPaoki]

@jamesconlin5099 yea that was clearly the problem! The fact we get a story about a super dangerous infectious disease and we're never explained why it's so dangerous has nothing to do with it. Brilliant deduction... I guess you're one of those geniuses that if walking dead had no actual zombies despite it being a series about zombies you'd say it doesn't matter we have no zombies in a zombie series since the protagonists talk about them...

[@masaruten]

To be honest, when I read about Helens experiments, it reminded me of this horror story I read where a maintenance worker explores a seemingly deserted outpost that was exposed to a chemical that increased plant growth but caused humans to age rapidly on contact until death.

[@animelvr99]

whats the name of that horror story?

[@oliverbatt3559]

I seem to recall that one of the terminals in the game indicates Asim and not Nick initiated the distress call (which makes sense given Asim's job and that he was found killed in the Comms Hub). Asim raised the alarm just before Wyatt killed him.

[@wackawackacount]

3:13 "Surprisingly unperturbed" was exactly my thought. I couldn't tell if Jack was joking about it being a bad nosebleed, or if he really assumed it was something that innocuous.

[@SwAgDeMaRaBoU]

So happy this series is continuing.

[@menace4082]

It is? What have you heard? There needs to be multiple DLCs i feel

[@Ashen_Sparrow]

finished the game and immediately came here, lol. I enjoyed it for what it was. the plot was far different than what I thought it would be. I wish there was more of it.

[@tiyonbaret6914]

The game is interesting, but It's doesn't answer the question whether compound 26 is dangerous or not. It's all really just speculation at this point. Wyatt did see a correlation of a sickness with hand shaking (even his hand shaking), but I remember in video that Fort Solis old. An outdated reactor leaking radiation isn't out of the realm of possibility of causing radiation sickness. I also get that the Terra Corporation could be doing a cover-up but isn't what that any space multi-million businesses usually look like what they're doing based on all media we've all seen in games and movies. Wyatt did seem like he genuinely wanted to help, but he wasn't exactly in the right headspace during all this (haven't been talking to his wife and kids due the storm cutting off communications) Stress, mental fatigue, and suspension of Hellen's work could have maybeeeee clouded his judgement like trying to find connections to things when there wasn't any to connect. One more thing if compound 26 was so dangerous, why did Helen (The researcher who studied and created the C-26 would send it to earth) send it to Earth. She did say felt like she was doing something wrong, but that could be taken out of context like reporting Wyatt and getting him suspended for one. What if the big twist was that C-26 was never dangerous, but a stressed-out Wyatt grasping for straws to make himself seem right and going extreme measures. (This just my theory and there's a lot of evidences to disprove me, but would be cool twist) p.s love the videos keep it up

[@YamiHoOu]

That would also explain how surviving is the good ending too. Otherwise if the infection was real then doesn't that mean it will spread?

[@kookiedough5666]

C26 was dangerous at least that’s what the game implied, the compound due to constant genetic modifications apparently got mutated and produced mutant genes that caused the birth of the deadly virus which was spread to humans by the bees I assume from a log mentioning someone getting stung

[@ShoutOfCoffee]

I opening beer for this one.😁 You doing fantastic job Harry. Best lore presentations on KZbin. 👍👏👏👏

[@eccajj2480]

Love the content man, keep it up, you are definitely the best gaming lore explainer/story explainer out here on KZbin

[@eccajj2480]

For games btw is what I meant lol

[@samoa52snipez]

I don't even know half of these games you do. I just like to hear your explanation, I also appreciate how much research you do for these keep up the great work! :)

[@tomKATT92]

You know what, it's very rare for someone to be able to get me to watch a video about a game I don't know anything about, but you manage to do it!

[@gamergirl209]

The story can be great, but when the protagonist doesnt do specific inatinct level actions, my suspension od disbelief gets ruined. In this case, you heard your partner get attacked. You call central, but dont tell them the escalated situation. You go after them, find a madman who pretends to be someone your coworker found dead. Then you dont find anything that can be used as a weapon. Then there's this actual disease. These people were living here for presumably months, before getting sick, but two people who show up for one night start exhibiting symptoms. Sorry, but nah

[@Lh0000]

Thing is, shaking hands is a normal reaction to fear, adrenaline or both. In that specific instance it’s more likely the guy was just going nuts and the shaking hands was a fear response because yeah she just got through fighting for her life and her system is still pumped full of adrenaline

[@jayknight1099]

I like ambiguity but at certain points things can be too muddied. Like maybe they're just all going stir crazy, maybe there is an alien, maybe it is the soil doing something, all of these seem like they can be true on their own. And there's not as much incentive as with other games to really make it worthwhile to pick a side, especially since you'll never get enough evidence to support it.

[@fahimmuntaser9997]

Man the voice acting is 10/10

[@unixyss2499]

I'm impressed by how Fallen Leaf managed to introduce so many genuinely interesting ideas and mysteries into their game and then proceeded to not expand on any of them in any kind of way whatsoever. It's like if the studio took the writer(s)'s very first draft, went "good enough", and made the game without adding anything more to the story. I'm honestly baffled by how unfinished this game's story feels.

[@MrOpeningact]

​@@heckerbonker3377I think it's fair to leave certain information out of the core gameplay, but if someone finds all the documents and recordings and little pieces of lore but still doesn't know wtf is happening, that's bad game writing.

[@quirkyviper]

​@MrOpeningact I'm inclined to agree with you. I, personally, feel like a good story asks you to reflect on the events, might lead you to some personal introspection, etc. I'm good with being left to question character traits and motives. But there are some questions here that you just can't engage with outside of the game because you don't have enough information. That's not laziness on the audience's part, it feels like the equivalent of a dead end and takes some of the fun out of witnessing a writer's vision.

[@silentt8161]

@@heckerbonker3377 good thing they discuss their findings during the hours of walking- oh wait, no they dont, they don't even discuss the bodies or what could have happened, they just kept throwing one liners like it was a marvel movie. the guy stumbles into bodies, freaks out for a single minute, then walks and talks like nothing happened. they never wondered anything about anything.

[@silentt8161]

@@heckerbonker3377 i dont play many walking sim (surprise, hope that didnt raise your bpm by 3). in the walking dead they talk about their feeling about everything ALL THE TIME. Emotions are most of the damn game. most of the games you're describing in the end have GAMEPLAY in them. Kratos in God Of War is a stoic cause thats the whole greek theme. borderlands doesn't have much CAUSE THE GAMEPLAY is the focus, and even then the NPCs are the one with emotion. these games have stuff you do with your character other than walk, and whenever they dont give much emotion or care it is because either the gameplay is the focus of the game or the character is storywise not a person that shows much. Geralt's non emotion is a huge part of the story, so is Krato's. i dont follow modern AC but all characters from back then were almost purely emotional driven with opinions on their historical times, that's the most obvious with AC3. My biggest complaint with this game is that they are not discussing whats happening when they should be smart and AT LEAST theorize even for a single sentence. they talk about everything BUT the actual thing in front of them. get the generator, ignore the bodies, talk about old movies. This happens in movies as well, where they portray astronauts as complete dumbasses. the game should foster curiosity by having thoughts on the subject at hand, like how the girl tries to overcome her fear of entering Fort Solis

[@MrOpeningact]

@heckerbonker3377 The difference is that those games aren't story focused, the story telling of the souls games is left to doing your research using the resources provided, you can piece together a large portion of the lore by reading the item descriptions. Plus there's a the rest of a game whereas this was a walking sim, nothing but atmosphere and story. Or a lack thereof

[@BriarPatchNyra]

Okay, after putting way too much thought into it. I think Wyatt saw the abuses of workers, and that combined with the isolation, the storms, and the noises the aliens made (let’s assume they were seeking shelter from the storm) sent him into a paranoid spiral, and he assumed the noises were them working when they shouldn’t be.

[@noco-pf3vj]

If my hand is shaking because of scared or not enough sleep and that psycho saw me, he assumed that I got an infection and hunted me. The story is more like that, the antagonist who became paranoid of everything.

[@gabby3036]

Wow, the acting in the video logs is *really* good - like it's standing out to me and I'm half-watching while I'm chorin' and it *still* got my attention. Very good mo-cap work.

[@houseonahillok]

As someone who enjoys new ideas and stories, I'm enjoying your summaries of these sci fi/horror games. I don't have the time/energy to play all of these games so it's great to be able to take in their core ideas and stories in this format. I hope they make a sequel to this one and you cover it.

[@krvgames9258]

Gaming Harry: “Inside it’s quiet.” I was honestly expecting you to say “It’s too quiet.”

[@bhamacuk]

Just finished this and honestly expected more. The graphics are amazing and I loved the banter between Jack and Jessica. Most of the exchanges made me laugh, I really liked their friendship. It's less of a walking simulator and more a dawdling sim. It does end very abruptly when I expected another chapter. Excellent production values but it's basically an interactive movie. 6/10

[@sshhrroomm]

i absolutely love your channel and how you explain games,keep doing what you do!

[@Listening_Books12345]

5:50 You gotta love the dude logic of smashing someone's head around and *then* asking them questions

[@phoenixx913]

The game itself is pretty cool but there were so many loose ends what made the claw marks on the hanger door? What left that inhuman handprint, what was throwing rocks, what the hell was making noises out in the storm? What were the side affects of compound 26 and what exactly was it doing to people? What the heck threw that platform at jack and made it curve like that, like these are things I desperately wanted answers and I got none. And I just feel like it could have been fleshed out a little bit more so that those questions could be answered you know?

[@No_Ghosts]

If the infection is caused by the soil why does Wyatt blame Helen's work? I was thinking maybe the compound, "lightning in a bottle", is able to supercharge plants so they can grow on the hostile planet's surface (and begin terraforming). This same compound causes people to get sick, and mutate into super human monsters resident evil style (hence the claw marks). That's why Wyatt is killing people while they're still in human form, he knows they are already dead. This sorta makes the plot come together, except then why involve the soil at all?

[@odst_735]

Maybe the soil contained the compound somehow? Only thing I came think of happening

[@69Kazeshini]

Maybe the soil contained an inert or weakened version of the compound and Helen experimented with it, altering it from compound 19 to 26.

[@kookiedough5666]

The compound c26 is actually the genetically modified soil infused with the bio growth accelerators that because of constant mutations caused the virus

[@skytrigger]

So wait, what is C26 now? I still don't understand if there are deadly creatures on the planet hiding under the crust or if it's the soil with dangerous (parasite?) organisms.

[@romannavratilid]

nobody knows... even the developers dont :-)...

[@kookiedough5666]

The compound c23 is a combination of soil which was made by helen was first deemed as the start of the bio life on mars and she kept genetically modifying the soil by instigating growth accelerators for faster results bcs they quoted in the game that the life on earth was running low so I assume its the reason why Helen was ambitious to see faster growth of the biolife and the final compound she modulated was c26. Her Genetically modifying a substance which she knew very limited knowledge of and had no idea about the repercussions turned out give rise to a humanity ending virus which slowly spread by the bees they used for pollinating that stung a person and it spread to the entire crew.

[@skytrigger]

@@kookiedough5666 Huh. Now that makes a lot more sense. But it still doesn't explain the deep claw cuts in the doors. I'd understand it if they are scratches signifying a human trying to get in. But why would a human try to get in anyway when they know how.

[@kookiedough5666]

@@skytrigger honestly I cannot think of anything thats accurately explains the deep claw marks and wyatt saying he heard noises at night but I think its the crew members slowly going insane or it might have just been wyatt. There was a report saying the bees that got contaminated by the compound were showing aggressive behaviour so i assume it’s something to do with that. It would be an amazing sequel if they explained it all.

[@skytrigger]

@@kookiedough5666 I agree it would be too easy to write some alien monster culture deep below the surface like so many other game or movies have done. One thing that just came up in my mind is that the miners are constantly exposed and overworked at the same time to that soil. I wouldn't put it past the theory that they have gone slightly insane. In the end, we have to wait for the sequel sadly, but hopefully not for long. :(

[@MrCmcgruder]

This game seems like a hidden gem. Major cliff hanger . I want to know what’s going to happen next? Did the people mutate? Is that the scratching they seen? Is there a alien out side? So many questions unanswered. Beautifully done mate with the video

[@GARRYSTIRLING]

Harry you are the GOAT i absolutely love all your videos

[@M0mzSpagheti]

I see why Wyatt did it. Playing through the game there was a voice log that Helen said that it’s not a question that they can do it. It’s if they should do it. She knew what she was doing was wrong. It was a good game and a morally thinking kind of game.

[@M0mzSpagheti]

I wrote this before I saw the video lol. I saw you mentioned Helen’s entry. Great video man. Been enjoying your explaining of games.

[@RedragonReviews]

The voice acting in the game sounds so amazing keep up the good work harry you get me through work

[@CarsonOConnell]

Watching all of your videos, this Story Explained series is fantastic!

[@PowerfulRoman]

Im so glad you made this!

[@SSxSR]

Harry the Don doing his BUSINESS. What a CHAMP!

[@Darkschool6]

Very underrated game, the writing, the voice acting the atmosphere all made for a great experience.

[@pescimist]

I’m so happy right now, I was about to request a story breakdown of this game. This is sick made my day

[@aeureus]

Thanks again for more content Harry :D You always seem to brighten the week for everyone!

[@frigingoon]

love ya harry. i always enjoy your breakdowns.

[@modernizedsingularhuman]

Notifications Are Working Nice, lets see the new Harry video

[@darqjade]

This is the first game I've seen where the speech patterns flow as naturally as they do in the real world. REally great work here. BTW, is the vocie actor for Wyatt Michael Fassbender?

[@GamingHarryYT]

Troy Baker. Also voiced Higgs in Death Stranding, Joel in The Last of Us and Booker DeWitt in Bioshock Infinite. Many more too

[@equilibriumvk1657]

Omg, ​@@GamingHarryYT that makes sense why Wyatt's VC sounded familiar, Joel from the last of us.

[@nicholas19696]

Bro, the way your script for this sounds, is kinda like a myth that gets passed around on Martian colonies.

[@GrimaceGrunson]

Cheers so much for ordering the timeline out like you did. Finished the game today but missed a few key videos so this really helped fill in the blanks.

[@Spetznatz01]

Thank you for the deep dive and thorough explanation of the events going on. From this it seems as though a part 2 would be in order to follow on with whatever it was Wyatt had sent to his wife and whatever Helen had sent to earth as well. This could end up being on earth with some follow up with whatever the “creature” is on Mars.

[@dr.glassic7654]

Your Videos are so awesome! When I see one in the recommended Im like a child on Christmas

[@Skypirateinc]

I don't mind the game's ambiguity -- but it would've better served the devs to lean more heavily into it. I didn't care for some lines being directly lifted from John Carpenter's The Thing - down to the inflection of how that line was delivered --- " no one trusts anyone anymore ". ( The doctor being the one to sabotage means of escape and insist that 'no one leaves' is also a direct plot comparison. ) What do I mean about leaning more heavily into ambiguity? The game's story doesn't lend itself well in connecting what C26 's supposed connection is to illness nor what it could do. The 'radiation sickness' people are developing is hinted towards prolonged exposure while working outside the base area on Mars --- not by the compound. There needed to be more implications from the Doctor that the experiments Indoors were more dangerous than the men working Outdoors. The other crew mates could've commented more on the doctor's erratic behavior suggesting the entire incident was caused more from working on Mars - the isolation, loneliness, and onset of a human developing mental illness from the strange environment and they don't believe anything is actually wrong.

[@suryakisku3895]

and also the claw marks, there is just too many things going on at the same time that are not interconnected

[@Willpolita]

man thanks for this summary, some things I had already picked up other things I was traveling, thank you very much, you are amazing

[@NickAndWolf]

1:40 and he was about to retire and his birthday was the next day, so was his anniversary, and his wife was 9 months pregnant.

[@wynplus]

The voice acting in this game is amazing

[@banjokazooiesbuddy]

Glad I saw this video before I got the game. Personally, I find "this level of ambiguity" translates to "no real answers" and makes the entire thing feel pointless. Saved me some time and money. Thanks brother!

[@prettzx]

While I'm glad you feel like you avoided something..... do you often watch full explained videos about games before you buy them? What's the point of buying a game AFTER you already watched a full video breakdown of what happens? Do you also watch full movie breakdowns before you watch a movie?

[@TheEternalSteelAngel]

Love for this content. Was surprised by this game.

[@Jackieboy84]

Completed this yesterday and was hoping for you to do one of these. Appreciate your work!

[@comediccomrade5716]

Ah yes, another video from our friendly neighborhood lore explainer, can’t wait to find out the story of this game!

[@jameslebus2432]

I believe the story is less ambiguous than it first appears. To me it is made relatively clear what is going on from a macro level, even if the details in the micro are too vague or omitted. To claim that “it could’ve been anything, some alien or robot or animal or..” sounds like a fundamental misunderstanding of the facts presented. It’s made clear to us that the compound is linked to aggressive behavior through the reaction by the bees. It’s explained that a less potent, earlier version of the compound was causing the bees to try and enter people’s suits and that they had become aggressive. The “trying to get inside of something and becoming aggressive” thing sounds alot like the claw marks and the noises outside. To me it’s clear that we arent dealing with a new entity like aliens and such. Instead it’s existing creatures being affected and experiencing drastic changes. And what creatures had the most exposure? What creatures did we see experiencing physical changes, having to be shipped off site? What creatures did we see growing increasingly hostile to the point of aggression and even violence? The humans on the station. I believe that Tout’s crew are responsible for the attempts to enter the station and the claw marks. Beyond that it very well may be possible that the entirety of Centrepoint is “infected” or atleast overrun considering any crew member who was deemed too far progressed in their “radiation sickness” was sent there. It’s a very real possibility that the creatures trying to forcibly enter Solis are Humans in the late stage of Compund 26 reaction and they are now spreading out across Mars. “There is no better tomorrow. I know now that we are all damned” Admittedly I am getting a bit into wild speculation as far as Centrepoint is concerned but I do believe the events of the station are more clear than most claim.

[@kevinpereira2546]

So the story was about this compound 26 which was a cure for oxygen for earth and Wyatt thought that it wouldn't work so he killed them and the fort Solis was out of control

[@stitchfan93]

Nice work Gaming Harry ❤😊

[@sonoradw1662]

Thank you for the summary! Looks as though there really wasn't enough information in the game for us to actually understand what happened, that in the end, the gaps in the material do not allow us to find out.

[@sage1682]

Idk why everyone is obsessed with colonizing mars either in fiction or in real life, the topography changes overnight from constant storms. Whatever built there will be buried within a week

[@AYAKXSHI]

It’s because it’s important to our system that needs to explored and captured just like every other planet in the milky way considering it’s in our backyard also so that humanity can be expanded

[@mokeysamo3528]

Another great video

[@arudoshirogane4774]

Been waiting for this

[@riibuns]

god this story is so good ! the graphics, the visuals in the video logs and the voice acting is top tier- im glad you covered this !! ❤

[@skytrigger]

Omygawd yes. I needed a new episode of Lore&Order.

[@KnifeSotelo]

I liked what they implied in the end, that should be the next game or at least a plot to a movie

[@EXRazeBurn]

So given this explanation...the "good" ending is actually the bad ending. As the protagonist being recovered by TERRA Security means the Corporation now has a living subject in fected with the contagion.

[@NoCluYT]

Despite the game being a literal walking sim, I'm excited for what this studio does next. The look and polish of this game is far better than a lot of the big studios. That technical talent with half decent gameplay would make for an absolute world beater of a studio.

[@RemittentDig17]

While the game isn’t “bad”, they definitely should have either made the game longer or had more interactivity in the game, there’s a reason why the game has the term “walking simulator” as that’s all you do until there’s a cutscene, it would have been cool to have to sneak around certain security systems or even Wyatt, plus that ending was unfulfilling as it answered almost nothing, not even why Wyatt went mad, I get the dead space vibe of “what the hell is going on?”, but it ends on such a cliff hanger and is just another game you’ll forget about

[@bhamacuk]

I like the game but yeah, it is the definition of walking simulator. All you do is walk from place to place, investigate areas and complete button prompts . That's pretty much it.

[@miel307]

So the soil is making people sick (causing radiation sickness). Compound 26 is made with the soil Nick gathered with his mining team, probably a type of soil which is more potent then the normal Mars soil, hence why it grows the plants better. Problem being, more potent means its also deadlier and causing some weird sickness. This sickness being it could mutate people and this was probably happening with the mining crew. It got out of hand as 1 of the members transformed into a weird clawing monster, cauzing the weird claw marks and making the noises that Wyatt heared? This is my take on what Compound 26 might do? Cuz the game and this video don't really explain that.

[@romannavratilid]

everything check out until the part of mutated crew member :-)... there was no mention of any missing crew or that someone was anywhere near as you wrote "mutating"... but i get you, i dont get/understand the story either :-) :-(

[@christians_ordinarylife6169]

Harry: "Jack investigates the Atrium further." Also Harry: *sits down and has a beer* Me: Of course. A very necessary task. This truly is a helpful channel when I don't understand a game's lore. Thank you, Harry. Thank you.

[@necroticdemonart]

I love games like this, it does send my flight or fight racing but ill happily endure it if it means interesting stories.

[@apierre6]

Amazing video as always. Keep it up!

[@RhianKristen]

Sooo... did the story just not finish itself? There are so many loose ends. What was in the soil? Why was it dangerous? what were the claw marks from? Why were the bees aggressive (obviously the compound, but how?)? Why did he have to kill the other crew members rather than talk them down or destroy their research? Obviously the increased tensions on board were due not only to the situation and broken machinery, but also to the compound, but the compound didn't kill the bees and did kill the crew. Why? Why did the corp want Helen's research so bad? Bad enough to coverup deaths. I get that mystery stories are supposed to be mysterious, but they're also supposed to have an end. Unless we're getting a sequel, this story is half finished and that absolutely sucks.

[@missaliciaxxxx]

YESSS Gaming Harry always delivers 🎉

[@mrjtfang2]

Based on the comments i've seen here, there's something people didn't realise: not only did wyatt decide to send a sample (What else would he send?), but it seems that Dunpart also sent her wife/fiance/girlfriend a sample as well. That means there's two sources of C26 on earth.

[@kookiedough5666]

Amazing detail never even realised abt Helen also sending the sample back home! A sequel with this would be terrific

[@frankaliberti]

Best. Channel. Ever.

[@kdyoutube5544]

Love the reference to OBSERVATION early in this video. Such an underrated and untalked about game unfortunately.

[@bhamacuk]

Observation is one of my favourite games. I completed it around three times. Very unique and different.

[@StuffIsCool3blah]

I think it was just a case of folie à deux or shared psychotic disorder brought upon by Wyatt and all members of the team bought into the hysteria

[@InTheMindOfDavid]

I’ve got to hand it to the voice actors and mo-cap team. They did a really good job at making those video logs seem real in the way the actors delivered their lines and the mo-cap guys portrayed the characters’ mannerisms. Especially with Dr. Taylor. Like, his were more believable than 97% of films and games ever are. I could have believed that Dr. Taylor was a real person if I didn’t know any better.

[@RSNTM3NT]

Man, I've been waiting for this!

[@EvolvedCasualGamer_HM]

Thank you so much for explaining the story. Cheers : )

[@markdicristofaro904]

I agree with this guy. I don't need a game with tons of weapons. Give me an amazing story, beautiful artwork, and interesting characters. And I'll enjoy it. Not everything has to have a thousand different ways to kill something. But there needs to be balance in everything. If there's an amazing story, interesting characters, and great artwork, but I have to break numerous controllers and spend thousands of hours trying to beat the first boss? I'm not interested. In the same way, I don't want to walk around doing nothing either. Major LOL!

[@calebdavis9458]

I loved this game and never wanted it to end! I hope it did well enough to get a FS 2! Or some DLC that fleshed out a bit more of the lore.

[@HeAvYRaiN12]

Good explanation video as always I wish fort Solis is made a movie

[@anthonygranziol7957]

Heh. Helen channeled Jeff Goldblum and then the dinosaurs killed everyone. Wait, no, that was the doctor. Or was it the monster? Or the mysterious compound? Harry, thank you for playing this so we didn't have to.